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Urban growth boundary

Under Oregon law, each of the state’s cities and metropolitan areas has created an urban growth boundary around its perimeter – a land use planning line to control urban expansion onto farm and forest lands. Metro is responsible for managing the Portland metropolitan area’s urban growth boundary.

Land inside the urban growth boundary supports urban services such as roads, water and sewer systems, parks, schools and fire and police protection. The boundary is one of the tools to protect farms and forests from urban sprawl and promote the efficient use of land, public facilities and services inside the boundary.

Every six years, the Metro Council must review and report on the land supply in the Urban Growth Report. Metro prepares a forecast of population and employment growth for the region for the next 20 years and, if necessary, adjusts the boundary to meet the needs of growth forecast for that 20-year period.

The Portland area urban growth boundary has been expanded about three dozen times since it was first drawn. In 2007, a system for designating urban and rural reserves was put in place, further honing criteria for bringing land into the boundary.

Oregon Governor Tom McCall (1967-1975) convinced the Oregon Legislature in 1973 to adopt the nation's first set of statewide land use planning laws. With a coalition of farmers and environmentalists, McCall persuaded the Legislature that the state's natural beauty and easy access to nature would be lost in a rising tide of urban sprawl. On May 29, 1973, Senate Bill 100 was signed into law by Gov. McCall. The bill created the Land Conservation and Development Commission and the Department of Land Conservation and Development.

State land use goals require:

urban growth boundaries

wise use of urban land

protection of natural resources.

The Portland area urban growth boundary

To meet SB 100’s requirements, the Columbia Region Association of Governments, Metro's predecessor, proposed an urban growth boundary for the Portland region in 1977. The plans and growth projections of Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties, along with 24 cities and more than 60 special service districts, had to be accommodated when drawing the initial boundary.

When Metro was created by voters in 1978, it inherited the boundary planning effort. That year, the Oregon Legislature gave Metro responsibility for managing the Portland metropolitan area’s urban growth boundary. Since 1997, Oregon law also requires Metro to maintain a 20-year supply of land for future residential development inside the boundary.

In 1980, the Land Conservation and Development Commission approved the region’s initial urban growth boundary as consistent with statewide planning goals.

Expansions of the UGB

Oregon’s urban growth boundaries are not intended to be static. Since the late 1970s, the Portland metropolitan area boundary has been expanded about three dozen times. Most moves were small – 20 acres or less. Larger expansions were in:

1998: about 3,500 acres to accommodate 23,000 housing units and 14,000 jobs. Acreage included areas around the former Dammasch State Hospital site near Wilsonville, in Pleasant Valley in east Multnomah County, adjacent to Sunnyside Road in Clackamas County, and a parcel of land south of Tualatin.

1999: 380 acres based on the concept of sub-regional need—when a community needs land to balance the number of homes with the number of jobs available in that area.

2004: 1,956 acres to address the need for industrial lands identified as part of the 2002 planning process.

2005: 345 acres of land for industrial purposes, completing the 2002 planning process.

2011: Metro Council added 2,015 acres to help address the anticipated 20-year need for new housing and jobs. In 2014, the Oregon Legislature added another 1,178 acres in Washington County through House Bill 4078, which also finalized urban and rural reserves in the county.

2018: Metro Council approved four expansions to the region’s urban growth boundary, opening up 2,181 acres to development. The proposals call for at least 9,200 new homes in those areas.

Guidelines for bringing land into the urban growth boundary

State law defines the criteria that are used to determine the order in which lands are included within the urban growth boundary. In general, high priority lands must be included before lower priority lands can be added.

First priority

Urban reserve land:Urban reserves are areas outside the current urban growth boundary that are designated as lands that could be brought inside the boundary over 50 years (to 2060) to accommodate growth. Urban reserves are intended to provide certainty to land owners, developers and governments as to where future development of land could occur. Rural reserves are areas outside the boundary where future urban development cannot occur for a period of up to 50 years.

Second priority

Exception land (also known as non-resource land): Exception land is land next to the urban growth boundary that is not farm or forestland and is not designated as either urban or rural reserve. Second priority also could include farm or forestland that is completely surrounded by exception land but that is not "high value" farm or forest land.

Third priority

Marginal land: Marginal land is a classification of non-resource (exception) land outside of designated urban and rural reserves that allows dwelling units on exclusive farm use land. Marginal lands are unique to Washington County.

Fourth priority

Farm or forest land: Within this category, soil class or forest productivity further sets priorities. Priority is given to the area of lower productivity. In other words, the best, most productive farm or forestland outside of designated urban and rural reserves is the last land to be considered for inclusion in the urban growth boundary.

When is land added to the urban growth boundary?

Oregon law requires the Metro Council to study the capacity of the existing urban growth boundary every six years to determine whether it can accommodate the population and employment growth that is forecast for the next 20 years. This study results in an urban growth report.

If the urban growth report indicates that the existing urban growth boundary provides sufficient capacity to accommodate the growth that is forecast for the next 20 years, no urban growth boundary expansion is needed.

If the urban growth report indicates that the existing urban growth boundary does not have sufficient capacity to accommodate the 20-year growth that is forecast, the Metro Council will first work with local governments to determine whether steps can be taken to enhance the efficiency of land inside the existing boundary to accommodate more growth. These steps may include upzoning, increased investments in transportation or other public infrastructure, redevelopment of brownfields, and other measures that can be expected to result in new development within the boundary to accommodate more housing and jobs over the next 20 years.

If these additional steps are sufficient to accommodate all of the housing and employment growth that is expected for the next 20 years, no urban growth boundary expansion is needed. If, after these efficiency measures are taken, there remains a need for additional capacity within the boundary to meet the forecast growth, the Metro Council will consider boundary expansions, following the priorities outlined above. Urban reserve lands will be the first lands studied and considered for possible expansion. Lower priority lands will be considered only if certain growth needs cannot be met by expanding the urban growth boundary into urban reserves.

Once an urban growth report is completed, the Metro Council has up to two years to consider a possible expansion of the urban growth boundary.

Can Metro add land to the urban growth boundary at any time?

The Metro Council can, under certain circumstances, expand the urban growth boundary to meet immediate needs to provide lands for specific purposes that cannot be accommodated within the existing urban growth boundary and cannot wait until the completion of the next urban growth report. This rarely happens. In some cases, local governments may petition the Metro Council to consider an urban growth boundary expansion outside of the six-year review cycle in order to meet more immediate regional economic needs. (These petitions cannot be made in the year in which an urban growth report is required to be completed.) Since the Metro Council is required to maintain a 20-year supply of land within the boundary for future jobs and housing and review that supply every five years, petitioners must address extensive criteria to justify such a narrowly targeted boundary expansion outside of the normal review cycle.

Types of urban growth boundary amendments

Legislative urban growth boundary amendments

Metro is required by state law to have a 20-year supply of land for future residential development inside the boundary. Every six years, Metro is required to conduct a review of the land supply. This review is called the urban growth report. If the urban growth report adopted by the Metro Council indicates that there is a need for additional growth capacity, the council must take actions to use land inside the existing urban growth boundary more efficiently or expand the boundary.

When undertaking this review, Metro also considers land needs for future jobs. As described in the land use chapter of the Regional Framework Plan, it is also the policy of the Metro Council to exercise its powers to achieve six desired outcomes for a successful region. The Metro Council considers these desired outcomes when making legislative growth management decisions. When making a legislative growth management decision, the Metro Council seeks the formal advice of the Metro Policy Advisory Committee.

Major urban growth boundary amendments

Cities, counties, special districts or land owners may request an amendment to the urban growth boundary in years when Metro is not conducting its required every-six-year review of the boundary. The purpose of the major amendment process is to address needs for non-residential land that cannot wait until the next required review of the boundary. The applicable criteria may be found in Title 14 of the Urban Growth Management Functional Plan.

Minor urban growth boundary amendments

The purpose of the minor amendment process is to provide a mechanism to make small changes to the urban growth boundary in order to make land already in the boundary function more efficiently and effectively, such as by adding land for roads (not to add land to satisfy residential or employment capacity needs). The applicable criteria may be found in Title 14 of the Urban Growth Management Functional Plan.

In 1979, voters created Metro, the Portland area regional government. In that same year, the Oregon Legislature drew the Metro boundary to serve as the new agency’s political boundary. Residents living inside the Metro boundary vote for representatives to the Metro Council, and their land is subject to Metro’s regulatory and taxing authority.

Some areas are inside the urban growth boundary but outside the Metro boundary, and some areas are inside the Metro boundary but outside the urban growth boundary. People who live inside the urban growth boundary but outside the Metro legal boundary are not subject to Metro taxes or regulation. They are not represented on the Metro Council, nor can they vote in Metro elections.

Although the Metro Council has authority to make regulations, provide services and exercise tax authority only inside the Metro legal boundary, state law gives Metro jurisdiction over urban growth boundary decisions, even if the land brought in is outside Metro's legal boundary. Such areas are referred to as transition zones. Urbanization may not occur until after the property is annexed to the Metro boundary, which requires the consent of at least a majority of the voters in the area that is annexed. Annexations do not need to include the entire area at one time

The Metro Council can vote to bring an area into the Metro boundary if petitioned by residents of that area with a request of consent annexation. Consent annexation petitions require either 100 percent of voters or 50 percent of the voters and the owners of 50 percent of the property.

Once annexed, residents may vote in Metro elections and would be subject to Metro regulations and taxes.

On Dec. 13, 2018, the Metro Council voted to expand the region’s urban growth boundary. The four proposals approved add 2,181 acres to the region and call for at least 9,200 homes in those areas.

330 acres area north of Hillsboro, in the vicinity of Northwest Meek Road and south of U.S. Highway 26, for the purposes of attracting future large-site industrial employers

1,063 acres south of Hillsboro, in the vicinity of Southwest 229th Avenue and Southeast Tualatin Valley Highway, to achieve a target of approximately 10,776 new housing units

543 acres west of Beaverton, in the vicinity of Southwest 175th Avenue and Scholls Ferry Road, for a minimum of 4,651 new housing units

49 acres west of Tigard, east of Southwest Roy Rogers Road and south of Bull Mountain Road, for new residential development and to provide public structures in the West Bull Mountain area.

This expansion was a result of the 2009 Urban Growth Report, which indicated the existing boundary would not provide enough capacity for expected growth over the following 20 years as required by Oregon law. In 2010, the Metro Council first added capacity to the urban growth boundary by committing to new transportation investments and working with local governments to encourage greater growth and development within existing communities. Those efforts, by themselves, were not adequate to fill the 20-year need identified in the Urban Growth Report, so the Metro Council expanded the urban growth boundary in 2011 as described above. The Community Investment Strategy outlines Metro’s long-term land use strategy to maximize existing resources before any boundary expansions.

The 2011 additions to the urban growth boundary took effect Jan. 18, 2012.

In 2006, retired engineer Kathryn Harrington decided to begin a career in public service, with a particular focus on accountability, transparency and honest public engagement. Twelve years later, she's served a full three terms on the Metro Council, the most allowed under the Metro Charter.

At a Nov. 13 work session, councilors supported further studying four areas a potential bond could support: regional land acquisition, improving public access to nature for people, “local share” money for local park providers and capital grants for community nature projects.

The four areas, near Hillsboro, Beaverton, King City and Wilsonville, all have development challenges. But all four cities, Bennett said, have shown that they have plans to pay for the pipes, roads, parks and schools needed for new housing to be built.

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